Good morning.
Today is Monday,
February 15th,
2021.
Oh Lord,
Let my soul rise up to meet you as the day rises to meet the sun.
Glory to God,
The three in one creator,
Redeemer,
And sustainer.
As it was in the beginning is now and will be forever.
Amen.
Come let us sing to the Lord.
Let us shout for joy to the rock of our salvation.
Remind yourself that you are in God's presence.
Notice how God may be speaking to you today.
Let yourself dwell on any word or phrase that catches your attention or perhaps moves your heart.
And then let your heart simply respond to God in prayer.
As we begin,
Please repeat these words.
Hear the cry of your children,
Lord.
Come quickly and set us free.
Our reading today is John 4 verses 1 through 15.
When Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard he was attracting and baptizing more disciples than John,
Though it was not really Jesus baptizing but his disciples,
He left Judea and returned to Galilee.
This meant he had to pass through Samaria.
He stopped at Sychar,
A town in Samaria.
Near the tract of land Jacob had given to his son Joseph and Jacob's well was there.
Jesus,
Weary from the journey,
Came and sat by the well.
It was around noon.
When a Samaritan woman came to draw water,
Jesus said to her,
Give me a drink.
The disciples had gone off to the town to buy provisions.
The Samaritan woman replied,
You are a Jew.
How can you ask me,
A Samaritan,
For a drink since Jews had nothing to do with Samaritans?
Jesus answered,
If only you recognized God's gift and who it is that is asking you for a drink,
You would have asked him for a drink instead and he would have given you living water.
If you please,
She challenged Jesus,
You don't have a bucket and this well is deep.
Where do you expect to get this living water?
Surely you don't pretend to be greater than our ancestors,
Leah and Rachel and Jacob,
Who gave us this well and drank from it with their descendants and flocks.
Jesus replied,
Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,
But those who drink the water I give them will never be thirsty.
No,
The water I give will become fountains within them,
Springing up to eternal life.
The woman said to Jesus,
Give me this water so that I won't grow thirsty and have to keep coming all the way here to draw water.
Please repeat these words,
Hear the cry of your children,
Lord,
Come quickly and set us free.
Today is Monday and on Mondays we pray for the world,
For God so loved the world.
So I invite you now in a moment of silence to hold the world before God,
However your imagination leads you to conceive of the world,
Hold the world before God.
Don't worry about diagnosing the world's complicated needs or telling God what to do,
Just hold the world before God in this space.
May the love of God go before us and behind us,
Beneath us and above us,
On our right and on our left,
When we rise and when we lie down,
May the love of God be with us,
May the love of God be in us,
May the light of Christ go before us and behind us,
Beneath us and above us,
On our right and on our left,
When we rise and when we lie down,
May the light of Christ be with us,
May the light of Christ be in us.
In the name of Jesus who taught us to pray,
Our Father which art in heaven,
Eternal God,
Earth maker,
Pain bearer,
Life giver,
Source of all that is and all that shall be,
Not only Father but Mother of us all,
May the hallowing of your name echo through the universe,
May the way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world,
May your heavenly will be done by all created beings,
May your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today,
Feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another,
Forgive us.
In times of temptation and test,
Strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure,
Spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil,
Free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love,
Now and forever.
Amen.
God our Savior,
Your living water flows freely.
Give us this water,
Oh Lord,
That we may never thirst again,
That we might be born of water and the Spirit.
Fill us with fountains of living water,
Springing up to eternal life.
Amen.
And now my friends,
May the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ go with you wherever he may send you today.
May he guide you through the wilderness,
Protect you through the storm.
May he bring you home rejoicing at the wonders he has shown you.
May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.
Go in peace.
